WELL, HERE it is again, then: the opportunity to revolutionise your life, change the world, stop smoking, whatever. Apparently, or maybe this is just a fiction invented by parties with a vested interest, we're all taking our New Year's resolutions even more seriously this year because of the M-word (though in my case, I'm not sure what even more seriously than Jack Squat actually amounts to), and everyone - or at least everyone who watches ITV - is making all sorts of high-flying promises. "I will make my bed every day" - that sort of thing.

Witness this day my challenge to Steven Berkoff. Full size ping- pong table, since you reckon you're a player; rubber pimples on the bats, not sponge; competition ball; Chinese referee; best of nine games; and may the best man win - ie not you.

WILLIAM HAGUE'S leadership came under renewed fire last night when senior Tories attacked the "shambles" over the party's selection of its candidate for mayor of London. MPs blamed Mr Hague for the chaos as Steven Norris was restored to the Conservative shortlist less than 72 hours after he was excluded.

Tourists are limp, leaderless and distinctly UnAustralian

Andrew Grice: Inside Westminster

Blairites be warned, this could be the moment Labour turns into Syriza

The mystery of Britain's worst naval disaster is finally solved - 271 years later

Exclusive: David Keys reveals the research that finally explains why HMS Victory went down with the loss of 1,100 lives

'I saw people so injured you couldn't tell if they were dead or alive'

Nagasaki survivors on why Japan must not abandon its post-war pacifism

The voter Obama tried hardest to keep onside

Outgoing The Daily Show host, Jon Stewart, became the voice of Democrats who felt the President had failed to deliver on his ‘Yes We Can’ slogan. Tim Walker charts the ups and downs of their 10-year relationship on screen